*Disclaimer before I start this most of the following assumes Beachhead doesn't change the way scoring works , which i still hope they do as it's got a major flaw but anyways... i've highlighted this enough times now

Some of these are kind of obvious but I thought I'd include as much as possible. I've used win numbers from our previous clan wars as a reference and although win numbers change depending on each clan war and are worked out on number of people in the clans they same principles apply.

Over the last three clan wars my clan has won three of our wars, we came second in the first as we didn't really get the scoring system and made some basic errors. I figured I'd share a few tips and strategies and hopefully you guys will add some of your own (hint hint).

First off divisions to get placed in the higher divisions like gold and platinum your clan needs to play often and rack up wins in both clan wars and normal multiplayer. when the war starts you should then be placed in a clan war against clans of a similar size.

Each clan war depending on the size of the clans has different amounts of wins needed to take a node , Beachhead tinker with this every clan war but as a rule of thumb it's usually the most popular modes that have the highest amount of wins needed with as we saw in this war with the hardcore modes the odd wildcard in cp awards/ xp bonuses

Knowing what nodes to go for is paramount to winning a clan war, due to the way the scoring system works (and where the flaw is) as its quite possible to "win" the war on the first day . I have noticed a lot of clans go for their favorite game mode first , while this is great if you just want the node to benefit from the xp boost , it isn't the necessarily the best strategy if you wan to win the war.

When the clan war starts look to see what nodes are worth in cp, and how many wins you need to take. taking the node that needs the biggest amount of wins first is one way I have seen a lot of clans ultimately lose .

What you want to do first look at what each node pays in CP and work out what will give you the highest cp versus time. For example taking dom for 30 wins may give you 20cp , whereas taking two smaller 15 win nodes would pay out 25 or 30 cp. Game modes is another important choice a game of blitz or kill confirmed will usually be a lot quicker than a game of snd or snr.

One thing I also have noticed is clans do not like playing out of their comfort zones, for example my Clan usually only plays hardcore or blitz, in this last war (and thank you Beachhead for making the two hardcore modes worth the most ) they were the first nodes we took. Over the five days the war lasted only one of them was opened as none of the other clans in our war touched them I can only assume as they didn't like hardcore.

When a node is retaken its cp value drops by one, this is the flaw in the scoring system, as if you take a node first you gain the most cp from it. This is how its possible to "win" a clan war on the first night if you work out the different CP awards and highlight which nodes combined add up to more than the others. You reach a point where you hold a comfortable lead that will only increase if your owned nodes are opened up and you retake them. This is where you can start taking out and capturing other nodes again going for the highest paying cp nodes first.

Taking or holding nodes? - currently there is no real benefit to holding onto a node unless you want the xp bonus or are going for the hold 5 or all the nodes challenges . you will earn a lot more CP letting your nodes be opened up and retaking them.

Play smart and let the other clans do the hard work for you pay attention to the clan war map when you are playing as you will get real time updates as wins are racked up on various nodes. If you see a node is being attacked see how many people are playing in the other clan by how many wins are knocked off .

Then time your attack based on this information... for example if you see 4 people are taking out a node and the node has 4 or less wins left on it till its opened you can judge when its best to attack. If the node is dropping at pretty steady pace you can assume the clan going for it is winning alot, so once the node is down to four , wait a few minutes then start playing yourselves. This is a slight gamble but the majoirty of the time you will find whilst your game is still going the other clan gets a win and the node opens up , then assuming you win your game you are then in the lead to take that node as your win will register once the node is opened. The race to take the node is then on..

At this point best case scenario you take the node first , or the other clan does but you have wins racked up so retaking it becomes a lot less time consuming. Pay attention to how many wins you need to how many players you have on as well , a few times this last war we lost the race to the node but managed to rack up all but one win to take the node (for example having 14 wins on the board for a 15 win node) - this is a great position to be in as it means if another clan opens the node you only need one win then to steal it from under them.

If you play smart and assuming your clan war is active (not all are as some clans in your war don't really play) by the mid way point you should have a healthy lead or if theres a few active clans around the same cp as them. Now is the time to be really smart. Clans earn less cp holding nodes, and they also once they own a node cannot retake it for more cp until someone else does. So if another clan holds a few nodes and is front of you leave them alone and take other nodes from other clans .

"poison the well" - the faster nodes are capped and retaken the faster the cp value drops use this to your advantage, help take down nodes when you see other clans going for them and try to steal it using the above tips.

PTFO <--

In our last war as with the two before that we ended the first day with a massive lead on any other clan, which again due to the flaw in the scoring , our lead just increased every day . One of the clans who were very active the first day as well decided to basically add new members and doubled in size (thank you Beachhead) and by the end of the second day they had steamrolled the entire board and had taken the lead by a good 80 cp.

Using the tactics and strategies above we then played smart. Jumping onto nodes when we saw they were about to open and stealing the capture away from the other clan . I will be honest a few times we lost the race literally every time with both clans needing one win to take the node. But then had wins racked up so as soon as the node opened we knew we could take it.

By the end of the fourth day we had not only taken back the lead but had played the board in such a way as to use the remaining Cp for retaking nodes to our advantage so the other clan needed to take 8 nodes including our hardcore ones back just to pull level as there was hardly any cp left as we made sure nodes were basically worthless by retaking them

By the end of the war we actually by a sheer amount of luck took the entire board and won the war with a 56 cp lead over a clan that was twice our size.

Again these tips really only hold true if Beachhead dont change the scoring (i hope they do) . But please if you have any tips yourselves add them .

Clan wars surprised me as being a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be in fact its probably the most fun we've had as a clan and as a solo player in CoD for years, especially after the debacle of clan ops in elite. Its a great addition to CoD and one that in the coming weeks will see a lot of changes.

As a footnote - Feedback for clan wars is best tweeted to @Beachheadstudio

First off divisions to get placed in the higher divisions like gold and platinum your clan needs to play often and rack up wins in both clan wars and normal multiplayer.

Confirmed: This is something I've read from the @Beachheadstudio twitter account.

When the war starts you should then be placed in a clan war against clans of a similar size.

Slight correction: The number of wins in a previous clan war + similar clan size dictates which clans you get matched against. Again this is something I've read from replies from the @Beachheadstudio twitter account the past week.

Taking or holding nodes? - currently there is no real benefit to holding onto a node unless you want the xp bonus or are going for the hold 5 or all the nodes challenges . you will earn a lot more CP letting your nodes be opened up and retaking them.

I somewhat disagree. There is a benefit to holding a node. You get 1 CP every 6 hours that you hold a node (total of 4 per node per 24 hours). This doesn't seem like alot, but if you have a clan grouping that is only active by 3-4 clans, AND those clans don't like to play certain game types, you can earn "free" points for doing nothing. Last clan war, the clans did not like to play hardcore gametypes. We captured the Domination and KC on night one. We held it the ENTIRE clan war until the last 3 hours. We received 32 for holding two points for most of the clan war... for doing nothi

Also, the TDM and Dom nodes started with a low CP value. The nodes would usually not get active until the following night. So whoever held it at the end of the night between the clans, received 3 free CP + the capture value. It makes a 7 point CP node more valuable when it's going to be worth 10 in the end every night.

I agree with most of the rest of your post though. Good points.

I really don't like the concept of diminishing point values on nodes as the Europeans have had 4 clan wars where they get first and last crack at taking points during the work week. Either we're going to have to recruit Euros or the US is going to have to have the clan wars start and end during it's prime time at some point for us to guarantee the possibility of capturing 5 points at the end of the round in competitive clan war groupings.

When the war starts you should then be placed in a clan war against clans of a similar size.

Slight correction: The number of wins in a previous clan war + similar clan size dictates which clans you get matched against. Again this is something I've read from replies from the @Beachheadstudio twitter account the past week.

Honestly the division you get placed in is from overall playtime NOT just from clan wars. That's why we have the situation where clans who dont take part in clan wars are in gold and platinum divisions.

papa_neslo wrote:

Taking or holding nodes? - currently there is no real benefit to holding onto a node unless you want the xp bonus or are going for the hold 5 or all the nodes challenges . you will earn a lot more CP letting your nodes be opened up and retaking them.

I somewhat disagree. There is a benefit to holding a node. You get 1 CP every 6 hours that you hold a node (total of 4 per node per 24 hours). This doesn't seem like alot, but if you have a clan grouping that is only active by 3-4 clans, AND those clans don't like to play certain game types, you can earn "free" points for doing nothing. Last clan war, the clans did not like to play hardcore gametypes. We captured the Domination and KC on night one. We held it the ENTIRE clan war until the last 3 hours. We received 32 for holding two points for most of the clan war... for doing nothing

Im not disputing that scenerio but I meant more if you are in an active war there is no point defending /holding a node, you get a few cp per 24 hours you earn alot more retaking the node my tips were to get the most possible

Honestly the division you get placed in is from overall playtime NOT just from clan wars.

I didn't say division selection is from clan wars. I said the clan grouping in a division. So once you are selected to go into Gold... the clans you are selected to play against have been how they performed in the last clan war. Clans that dominated in theory SHOULD be placed with other clans that dominated in the previous clan wars based on equal playtime.

Im not disputing that scenerio but I meant more if you are in an active war there is no point defending /holding a node, you get a few cp per 24 hours you earn alot more retaking the node my tips were to get the most possible.

I'm not disputing your claims here either. I was just trying to offer a counterpoint to the claim that holding a node can be valuable especially when you can squeeze out some extra points from small value cp targets. You clearly get more cp from capturing, and that's why I agree with you posts. Figured I'd give some additional commentary.

Honestly the division you get placed in is from overall playtime NOT just from clan wars.

I didn't say division selection is from clan wars. I said the clan grouping in a division. (So once you are selected to go into Gold... the clans you are selected to play against have been how they performed in the last clan war. Clans that dominated in theory SHOULD be placed with other clans that dominated in the previous clan wars based on equal playtime.

its not done that way the clans you are placed against in your war are selected from the overall playtime/wins not just from clan wars , i editted my other post but ill say it again.. this is why you end up with clans who dont take part in clan wars being placed into gold and platinum divisions as its done on overall playtime.

I truly understand that you can be placed in a division based on overall play time. I have been scouring the Beachheadstudios twitter feed for weeks now looking for clues on how this system works. (I've also asked.).

I also concede that I think that the information out there is possibly incorrect. But I would say that even in your scenario and my scenario, we're not wrong. You can have clans who don't know about clan wars be in in gold / platinum without ever realizing it.

That's why they end up having low cp value during a war. I completely agree. However, I think that you could be an active clan playing various game types and look like you are active and accidentally take points and that value still calculates in the next round of where you get placed as a clan.

Again I'm not trying to be confrontational, but more complementary with the stuff I've read. Until it's on a blog unfortunately, it's just tid bits based one twtitter replies here and there.

I truly understand that you can be placed in a division based on overall play time. I have been scouring the Beachheadstudios twitter feed for weeks now looking for clues on how this system works. (I've also asked.).

I also concede that I think that the information out there is possibly incorrect. But I would say that even in your scenario and my scenario, we're not wrong. You can have clans who don't know about clan wars be in in gold / platinum without ever realizing it.

That's why they end up having low cp value during a war. I completely agree. However, I think that you could be an active clan playing various game types and look like you are active and accidentally take points and that value still calculates in the next round of where you get placed as a clan.

Again I'm not trying to be confrontational, but more complementary with the stuff I've read. Until it's on a blog unfortunately, it's just tid bits based one twtitter replies here and there.

This last war there was two clans who only played tdm as a result tdm kept being retaken and was worth 2 cp by the final day.

We decided with just over an hour left of the war to try to take all the nodes tdm was the only one we didn't hold.. (and before "someone" says it i did say it was a waste of time but.. it was owned by another clan with the max amount of wins on it with the two other clans both sitting at 27/28 wins each . Somehow we managed to completely take it with 3 mins left of the war and the entire time with our snd node needing one win to be opened.

as for the way the system works, Beachhead keep tinkering with stuff which is annoying but i do wish there was a feature to opt in to a clan war same as we had for clan ops in elite -- While its great there are basically dead clans in each war that works to your advantage it does mean you also end up as we did where nodes drop in value due to said clans only playing one mode.,

This last war there was two clans who only played tdm as a result tdm kept being retaken and was worth 2 cp by the final day.

We decided with just over an hour left of the war to try to take all the nodes tdm was the only one we didn't hold.. (and before "someone" says it i did say it was a waste of time but.. it was owned by another clan with the max amount of wins on it with the two other clans both sitting at 27/28 wins each . Somehow we managed to completely take it with 3 mins left of the war and the entire time with our snd node needing one win to be opened. ,

*clears throat* I would just like to take this opportunity to say... Damn I forgot what I was going to say now!

You know how we overtook this other clan? They kept opening up our nodes, and we kept beating them to the recap. If they'd left our nodes alone then our job would have been much much harder. In fact this is arguably the only reason we were in with a shout as we were quite far adrift when they made their one and only move on HCKC and got pipped to the recap when we won 7 games faster than they could win 5, meaning we got the 1st AND 2nd cap on that node. We had 49CP out of it, 61 if you count us taking it back off them after they scored its 3rd cap. Thats not counting the 'holding' bonus we got for holding it most of the war. That easily trumps, what, 41CP for cap + hold?

Incidentally, they didn't learn their lesson and made the same mistake again on Blitz, KC and SnD. Winning games is one thing, but the ability to end games FAST is a big part of this. As an example, we took a game of HCKC on Siege to the score limit when we were racing them to the recap of the HCKC node. How often does KC go to score limit on THAT map?

LOL I have to say that I've never heard of someone getting kicked for having too good of stats. Although I know that you do have some good ones. Inactivity certainly does get players kicked but ones mans inactive player could be another mans workhorse. So you may just need to keep looking for that right fit.

That pretty much is the same strategy that we use in our clan wars. I'd say other than getting an early lead which is very much so important to placing in 1st, using the other clans aggression to bring down certain nodes before you stage an assault is probably the most important and overlooked strategy. We actually tied for 2nd place in this last war because we got swooped on one node that we almost had captured but we rallied and picked up another node that came open and tied them up.

Another strategy if you are playing from a leading position is to watch for hot competitions between a close competitor and one that isn't so close. If I see a clan that has no chance of overtaking our lead in a hotly contested battle with a clan that is running close behind us, I'll use that moment to look for other opportunities. Figuring that my competition will be distracted by the battle at hand. I look for nodes that aren't being contested all that much and will be worth enough points to offset the gains if my competition does take the node that they are working on. Of course, all along I'm hoping that the other guy gets it first. But either way, I'm putting myself in position to advance my lead. In this last war, I actually took the time to capture a 2cp node that we were close to capturing just by happenstance (TDM) because that 2cp was just enough to ensure our lead if my competition won his battle which he did.

You forgot to mention the douche strategy being used so often...minimize your clan to get placed in a lower bracket, then recruit like crazy after the war starts. Man I hope the start locking rosters...

That is good to hear about the mechanism for catching boosting clans in clan wars, but from my clan wars experience in gold/platinum (win gold/get smacked in plat/win gold/repeat), if you have enough players to fill a lobby, you can rack up a heck of a lot more wins if they are playing in two different parties.

Of course, we expect our clan party of 5/6 players to win the majority of their matches. A semi-decent clan should be winning at least 2/3 of their games anyway. Having another group losing deliberately only wastes resources at that level. If you had a group that had so much trouble winning that they had to boost, they would need a large number of members to keep up.

I have to concur. Only clans that quite frankly suck feel the need to boost but they are out there. My clan doesn't lay down for anybody. In fact just last night one of my party members got kicked from the match due to connection, rejoined but ended up on the other team and went something like 44-20 with 4 caps. He was over and above the top scorer on that team and gave us a real fight. But that's exactly what I expect my guys to do. We don't take it easy on each other even if it would have been smarter to do so. Of course we picked him up again right after that match. We may be honorable but we aren't stupid.

True but I don't have party chat on the playstation. Of course, he could just as easily use a cellphone I suppose but what can you do? People that really want to cheat will find a way to do so. I'm glad that they are at least trying to make it less convenient for them.